Mazzy: A STEM Learning Game

In this paper we present Mazzy, a game developed to foster computational literacy [1] and as an experimental testbed for evaluating the impacts of avatar type on performance and engagement. The latter aspect has been reported on elsewhere [3,4], this paper focuses on the design of Mazzy itself. In Mazzy, players write programs to guide their character through a maze. In doing so, players must create short computer programs, use procedural thinking, and debug issues in their algorithmic structures. Mazzy is based on constructionism, a pedagogical approach in which building objects is central to the process of learning [7]. We describe the state of the current game, and report on the most recent progress.